Improvement in trunks



UNITEDr STATES HENRY OLIF'TON, oF BUFFALO, NEw YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRuNKs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.f23,l56, dated March 8, V1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY CLIFTON, of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Trunks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, aud exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part ofI this specification, in whichv Figure l represents a perspective view of the trunk with the lid raised up and one of the drawers drawn out partially. Fig. 2 represents a perspective view of the trunk as it appears when closed up and locked. Fig. 3 represents a modification of the plan of scouring the drawers in place.

Similar letters of reference where they occur in the separate figures denote like parts of the invention in the whole of them.

My invention relates to that class of traveling trunks which are mainly constructed of a set of removable drawers or boxes, though Iamperfectlyawarethatdrawerorbureau trunks, as they are sometimes called, have heretofore been made.

The nature of my invention consists in the manner in which I hold and lock the sets of drawers or compartments to the frame of the trunk, by which means I make the whole structure strong and endurable, While any of the compartments may be readily got at without disturbing the others.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

` A represents the body of the trunk, and B the lid, both of which may be made in the usual well-known and substantial manner, and C is a light box which fills the top inside portion of the body A and is removable.

D D D D are a series of drawers, which are slid into the body of the trunk from its front side. These drawers do not lie or rest one on top of the other, but each drawer is separately supported in the frame or body A by tongues or strips on the interior sides, which take into grooves a in the ends of the drawers, and thus either one of the series may be readily slid out or in without adecting the next adjacent one.

E E are metal strips hinged to the front corners of the body of the trunk, so that when any of the drawers are to be got at the lid is first raised and the strips E swung back, as shown in Fig. l, and access is had to any one of the series.

YVhen the trunk is to be closed and locked, the drawers are run in and the stripsE swung around against them. The lid is now let down and shuts over the tops c c of the strips, and by locking the lid in any of the usual ways the whole series of drawers are secured, the strips or platesE serving as locks, as well as a protection to the corners of the trunk. This form of fastening only holds the strips or plates at the top; but they may be held at top and bottom both, which would make a stronger and more secure fastening, as shown by the modification at Fig. 3, where a loop e is made in the bottom strip f, and the plate E; instead of an ordinary hinge, has a hinge t', with inclined planes instead of horizontal ones on its male and female portion, so that in shutting-the plates E against the drawers its lower end will drop into the loop e, and then shutting the lid down upon their upper ends, as in Fig. 2, the plates are held at both ends, and if even the pivot of the hinge were driven out or the hinge broken access could not be had to the drawers until the lid was raised. I propose to make them in either or both forms, whichever may be preferred.

The object of hinging the plates E to the trunk is that they may not get displaced or lostand because they will more accurately swing into their places than they could be placed there by hand.

A valance or cover may be arranged to come down over the face of the drawers to protect them from dust or the weather.`

The advantages `of such a trunk in traveling will be duly appreciated, inasmuch as any portion of it may be got at without disturbing any other portion of it.

Any number of drawers maybe used within the scope of an ordinary trunk. V

Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention, whatV I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letstantially as herein described and repreters Patent,issented.

In combination with a trunk made up of a f 1 series of drawers such as described, the HEN RX CLIFrl ON' hinged plates for holding and looking said Witnesses: drawers to the frame of the trunk through CON A. VALDRON, J r., the intervention of the lid and its look, sub- ALEX. G. MASON. 

